Egypt crowded Messi until Argentina stretched and sped up the attack. A defender can step out safely when the inside lane is screened, a second presser can take over, the vacated zone is filled, and the far side can still defend a switch.

Egypt led Argentina for more than an hour and went 2-0 ahead before conceding in the 79th, 83rd and 92nd minutes of their July 7th round-of-16 defeat. Argentina’s completed 3-2 comeback eliminated Egypt and sent the holders into the quarter-finals. ¹

Before the comeback, Egypt contained Messi because nearby defenders challenged him, blocked his inside passes and covered the first defender. The block could release one defender because another was close enough to confront Messi if he escaped the first challenge, while nearby forwards and wingers screened the passes that would have connected him with runners.

Egypt’s two-defender answer

Post-match analysis of the round-of-16 tie shows Egypt switching from an early man-oriented press to zonal cover around Messi. Egypt blocked central routes, forced Argentina wider and placed a teammate behind the first defender confronting him. ²

The translated passage identifies the action directly.

In a zonal mid-block, Messi was not faced by one player alone. In a one-against-one situation, a teammate would provide backup pressure so the threat could still be stopped after the first cover was bypassed.

Because Egypt’s defenders stayed compact, the second player had two jobs. He protected the first defender from a dribble or wall pass, then became the next presser when Messi moved beyond the initial challenge. A third teammate had to close the space that the second defender had just left.

Argentina rotated attackers around Egypt’s midfield, advanced both full-backs and combined more quickly, moving the ball before Egypt’s second and third defenders could exchange pressing and covering duties. The increased circulation and one-touch passing made Egypt’s block shift more frequently, creating gaps that Messi could enter.

Lautaro Martínez’s introduction later gave Messi room closer to the right wing. Messi crossed for Cristian Romero’s 79th-minute header, scored four minutes later, and Martínez supplied Enzo Fernández’s winning header. Argentina had begun reaching receivers beyond Egypt’s first group of defenders and sending more players into the box.

The second presser takes over

FIFA’s Defending as a unit session defines the nearby roles as a succession. The closest defender presses, the second blocks the next pass and becomes the first presser if the ball bypasses his teammate, while the third defender covers the second. ³

The pressing run begins as the pass travels. FIFA asks the first defender to arrive on the receiver’s first touch and the covering players to close forward lanes at the same time. If the first defender waits until the receiver controls and turns, the second defender inherits a larger space and a faster opponent.

The first defender must also curve his approach to remove the inside pass. A straight sprint may shorten the distance to the ball while leaving the receiver able to play through the pocket. The covering defender then faces the ball carrier and the central receiver at once.

When the ball escapes the first challenge, the original presser cannot simply stop. He becomes the cover player behind the teammate who has taken over. With each pass, a different defender may have to press, cover or fill the vacated space, so nearby players must shift together with the ball.

Compactness near the ball

Forcher and colleagues’ 2024 tracking study compared successful and unsuccessful defensive plays across 153 Bundesliga matches from the 2020–21 season. Whole-team surface area, whole-team spread and distances between the lines showed almost no difference between the outcomes. ⁴

The five defenders closest to the ball were positioned more compactly during successful defensive plays. The effects were small, with Cohen’s d between −0.16 and −0.08, and the study establishes an association within one league season rather than proving that local spacing caused every regain.

A narrow block can still leave the first presser isolated, send two defenders toward the same touch or fail to replace the player who jumps. The whole team must continue protecting depth and switches, while coaches check whether the nearest players can press, cover and fill the new gaps.

The five-player finding also explains why judging a block from a wide tactical camera can mislead. Two teams may occupy similar overall widths and depths while arranging the defenders around the ball differently. Track the receiver, the first defender and the next three covering defenders.

The step-out check

Across four moments, watch whether a defender who leaves the block surrenders the pocket. Note the positions as the triggering pass leaves the passer’s foot, then follow the players around the receiver through the next action.

A poor or backward touch can still trigger an immediate jump. The touch creates the opportunity, while the positions behind the first defender determine whether the jump protects the centre or merely starts an uncoordinated chase.

FIFA’s analysis of Morocco at the 2022 World Cup shows these checks through named actions. Youssef En-Nesyri curved his press to screen Croatia’s holding midfielder, Azzedine Ounahi moved laterally before engaging, and Hakim Ziyech held a narrow position before pressing the wide pass. ⁵

Against Spain, Morocco shifted six players toward the ball-side half while four far-side defenders retained coverage against a switch. The ball-side midfielder, winger and full-back could exchange pressing and covering roles because teammates still protected the central lane and opposite side.

Morocco also gained control when those pressures forced opponents backward or wide. A local press can therefore succeed without an immediate tackle. The relevant outcomes include a regain, a hurried pass, a backward recycle and a wide pass that keeps the pocket closed.

Late pressure opens the block

Spain exposed Morocco when Pedri’s position delayed Ounahi’s approach to Aymeric Laporte. Laporte found Jordi Alba, Ziyech could not apply immediate pressure, and Alba had time to pass over the defensive line for Marco Asensio’s blindside run.

Late pressure forced Morocco’s back line to retreat and its goalkeeper to prepare to sweep. Ounahi first had to screen the central receiver and then close Laporte, leaving the passer enough time to see beyond the block.

Argentina used circulation to reduce the time available for Egypt’s second defender to take over. Higher full-backs pushed Egypt’s wide players deeper, rotations changed which defender had to cover Messi, and shorter combinations allowed Argentina to move the ball before the nearby unit could reset.

A long diagonal can expose the press when the remaining defenders cannot reach the far-side receiver. Six defenders can crowd one flank effectively, but the press becomes vulnerable when the remaining players cannot reach the switched receiver or track runners moving through the centre.

Training the replacement

FIFA’s compact-centre session places four defenders in the middle zone of a 30-by-30-metre exercise and asks them to maintain distances of two to three metres. The nearest defender steps out while teammates move across, close the next lane and reset immediately if the press fails. ⁶

The two-to-three-metre distance belongs to that reduced exercise and should not become a universal match threshold. Match spacing changes with the speed of the pass, the receiver’s body position, the direction of support and the space behind the block.

A conditioned game can reward the full defensive action. Give the attacking team extra value for receiving and turning centrally or completing a switch before the far side recovers. Reward the defending team for forcing play backward or wide, winning the second duel, or rebuilding the central block after the first press fails.

The coach should stop the action when two defenders attack the same receiver or when the second presser leaves without a replacement. Restart from the triggering pass and ask the first defender to adjust his angle, the second to move as the ball travels and the third to fill the newly vacated space.

Recording backup pressure

StatsBomb defines pressure as closing an opponent or blocking a passing lane. The event remains binary, so a pressure count cannot tell whether the defender had cover, protected the inside pass or forced the intended outcome. ⁷

StatsBomb 360 adds teammate and opponent locations around events, allowing analysts to measure nearby defenders and the receiver’s available space. The StatsBomb Open Data repository provides match-specific events, line-ups and 360 files for selected matches, although it does not include the Egypt–Argentina match described here. ⁸

Wyscout defines a covering-teammate event as a defender running backward or diagonally into a zone vacated by a teammate, but the event is video-only and unavailable through its API. ⁹

Each pressure can be coded from the triggering pass until the attack loses possession, recycles backward, exits wide, switches play or enters the central pocket under control. Record whether the second defender reaches the next receiver before that player can turn or pass inside, and mark the jump as late when the defender must abandon the central lane to engage.